Transgenders Complain about Not Getting Served by Obamacare

Although Americans were expected to accept Obamacare pushing healthcare premiums up by 6 percent of wages after inflation to cover such important medical procedures such as sex reassignment, it now appears that transgenders are not being served.

The Obama Care Facts website documents that after healthcare premiums remained level at 18 percent of wages from 2006 to 2010, the 2010 ‘Affordable Care Act’ will push premiums as a percentage of wages after inflation up to 24 percent of wages by 2020.

The Obama Administration justifies taking a third more after inflation for mandatory insurance premiums increases by claiming the law now covers high-risk consumers, and that insurance companies can no longer deny pre-existing conditions or charge higher rates based on gender.

Although transgender adults represent just 0.3% of the U.S. adult population according to Pew Research, they were expected to be huge financial winners under Obamacare.

According to the Transgender Law Center, transgender hormone treatments can run about $100 a month, female assigning surgery from $5,000 to $50,000, and male assigning phalloplasty may cost upwards of $100,000.

But an article in the Los Angeles Times claims that “for transgender people, getting healthcare remains difficult.” According to a Times investigative report, the St. John’s Well Child and Family Center in South Los Angeles that offers specialized treatment for 500 transgender patients claims that Obamacare does not help, because there is not specific anti-discrimination language in the law to protect transgenders.

The Times claims that for many of the estimated 14,500 transgender residents in Los Angeles, that they are so “Desperate for hormonal treatments, transgender patients were turning to friends and illicit dealers for unregulated cocktails of drugs.”

But this statement seems to lack credibility. The Obamacare Facts website lists a “number of insurers who offer transgender health coverage, as opposed to having blanket exclusions, either through fully-insured plans or as third party administrator of self-insured plans.”

Blue Shield of California is highlighted as an insurance company that now has specific guidelines for gender reassignment or transgender health surgery coverage.

The Human Right Campaign that is “Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equal Rights” states that Health Net provides a full suite of sexual assignment medical treatments.

Kaiser Health on its website states that insurers under Obamacare must accept preexisting conditions like “gender identity disorder”, which they acknowledge was often considered a preexisting condition before the Obamacare law.

With all this robust coverage for the tiny number of transgenders under Obamacare, the real issue may be that transgenders themselves are not joining Obamacare to avoid paying the 33 percent higher premiums after inflation and putting up cash for the outrageous deductibles and co-pays.

With deductibles for Obamacare Silver, the mid-level “Affordable” plan, running at about $3,453 according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research & Education Trust, most individuals and families who join Obamacare plans cannot afford to go to the doctor.

Co-pays for most healthcare plans before Obamacare averaged a few dollars, but now average $28 to visit a primary care doctor and $56 to see a specialist.

Obamacare law supposedly made a few Americans, such as transgenders, huge financial winners. But it is certain that the vast majority of Americans are realizing the “Affordable Care Act” will take an increasingly large bite out of their wages.